Remuera campground attempted murder: Auckland man Jesse Azulay sentenced over 2018 attack

The attack occurred at the Remuera Motor Lodge. Photo / Natalie Slade

An Auckland man who stabbed an acquaintance several times at a Remuera campground has been ordered to serve an eight-and-a-half-year hybrid mental health facility and prison sentence in the High Court at Auckland today.

Jesse Azulay - who the court was told meets the criteria for schizophrenia - was living at the Remuera Motor Lodge when he and a fellow resident had an altercation in the TV room on May 13, 2018.

Justice Kiri Tahana told the court after a manager intervened and kicked the pair out the victim told Azulay he would bury him.

Azulay then retrieved a knife from his vehicle and used it to stab the victim from behind in the head, neck and back.

Justice Tahana said Azulay later admitted to police he wanted to kill him and would have continued stabbing until he was dead.

In a victim impact statement, read by the Crown, the victim said the attack “financially ruined” him and he now struggles to trust new people.

Following the incident Azulay spent over five years in a lockdown psychiatric facility before being found competent to stand trial for attempted murder.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment.

His case had initially gone to trial earlier this year but he pleaded guilty part way through.

Justice Tahana said his doctor reported the offending occurred in the context of “active psychotic symptoms” which likely impacted his judgement, but was not a direct driver.

She said the Crown accepted he had schizophrenia but submitted little or no sentence reduction should be applied for this due to the risk to public safety.

Azulay’s lawyer, Sharyn Green, told the judge his overreaction to the victim’s comment regarding burial is where his mental impairment may be relevant when assessing his culpability.

She pointed to Azulay’s belief that he was the “chosen one” and that he was here to “save us”.

There was also some discussion of the number of times the victim was stabbed, as earlier he was accused of stabbing him seven times but later the parties agreed the doctor had referred to five areas with lacerations.

The Crown and Green also agreed a nine-year sentence was an appropriate starting point.

On account of his mental illness, Justice Tahana granted him a 5% discount but she rejected a request from Green for a discount for Azulay’s guilty plea.

The Crown requested Azulay be sentenced to a hybrid sentence, allowing him to continue treatment at the Mason Clinic and if he becomes well and still has time to serve he will be transferred to prison.

Green argued that her client should instead be detained as a special patient at a psychiatric facility.

In sentencing Azulay, Justice Tahana told the court there were three options she could choose from.

Prison, compulsory treatment as a special patient or a hybrid of the two.

In these circumstances, she said prison was not in Azulay or the public’s best interests and she imposed a hybrid sentence with no minimum detainment period.

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Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.